There was a time at halftime of Saturday night’s game against Northwestern when Urban Meyer was ready to make a change. Ohio State’s head coach thought about putting fifth-year senior Kenny Guiton in at quarterback.

His starter, Braxton Miller, was struggling. He lost two fumbles, threw an interception on a pass that was deflected by pressure, and maybe worse of all, he missed a wide-open touchdown pass.

“Real close,” Meyer said of putting Guiton in the game. “But we were riding (Miller). I didn’t think it was the appropriate thing to do, and I had a lot of trust in No. 5 to pull it out.”

Ohio State didn’t exactly ride Miller to a 40-30 win over the Wildcats. The Buckeyes rode Carlos Hyde to 6-0 and into the bye week ranked third in the coaches’ poll and No. 4 in the writers’ poll.

Hyde finished with a career-high 168 yards — 112 of them in the second half, and almost all of them bruising hard yards — and three touchdowns. OSU’s offense needed a spark, and Meyer searched most of the night to find it.

Past midnight in a cramped interview room, still wearing his soaking wet jersey, Hyde talked about his season. It started with a three-game suspension because of his involvement in an altercation at a Columbus bar.

“That suspension, it really hurt,” Hyde said, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Not being able to be out there on the field with my brothers because I made a mistake. That suspension was one of the hardest things I’ve gone through.”

Hyde was a leader at halftime. In no uncertain terms, he told the rest of the offensive players what Ohio State displayed in the first half wasn’t right. It wasn’t right to the legion of Ohio State fans who paid upwards of $300 to ticket brokers to just about halfway fill Ryan Field with scarlet. It wasn’t fair to the defense, giving the Wildcats short fields and missing scoring opportunities.

“I told everyone it was unacceptable,” Hyde said. “Everyone got their mind right and they told me they were going to ride me.”

It was the kind of performance Meyer needed from someone. That it came from Hyde was all the more pleasing.

“His whole career has been kind of mush,” Meyer said. “He hadn’t done a whole lot. We all make mistakes. I hope this is a game changer for him.”

The Buckeyes trailed for the first time all season, and were down as much as 10 points, 23-13, early in the third. What happened after that was a 20-point swing that allowed the Buckeyes to become the first team in the country to 6-0.

Meyer now takes his team into a much needed bye week. Players have Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off. They will practice Wednesday and Thursday before getting the weekend off.

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“They’re going to be one of the most rested team in college football,” Meyer said.

During the time off, though, Meyer said he will address Miller’s fumbles and the missed touchdown pass.

“I think he’s loose with the ball,” Meyer said. “The miss (touchdown pass), that’s just being a quarterback. You have got to hit that touchdown. He usually does.”

As tough as the narrow win was for Buckeye fans to swallow, imagine what Northwestern felt like. This was a chance for a signature win. They had a two-possession lead over the third-ranked team in the country. Head coach Pat Fitzgerald looked like he was on his way to the school’s first win over a top-five opponent since 1959.

And it all disappeared.

“There’s a team ... going back to Columbus that just got into a fight with our football team,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s what I’ll take from it.”

Ohio State takes 6-0, and 18 straight wins. The Buckeyes are becoming a team that refuses to lose and finds ways to win.

The second half of the season is coming up. They will be tested.

Can they get better?

“You’re the guy sitting next to the guy throwing a no-hitter who says, ‘Hey dude, you have a no-hitter going,” Meyer joked after the game when asked if he could continue to winning streak. “I’m not thinking about that. We’re going to get ready to play for the stretch-run.”